For when the Christmas shopping list is just too long...

For better memory do what the ancient Greek students did...

To break up a nasty headache...

To kill germs in the house, do what they did from the 14^th century all the way up to WWII...

To invigorate the blood...

To stimulate digestion...

To improve a child's ability to concentrate...

To strengthen the nervous system and keep emotions in check...

Use,

Are you ready for this,

Rosemary.

That's right. It's not only a great, although pungent, cooking spice. It has tons of other extraordinary hidden powers.

Believed to improve memory, Rosemary became a symbol of remembrance and concentration.

Greek students wore rosemary in their hair.

It's worth a try to all those current college kids (those modern Greeks of ours) whose procrastination has caught up with them.

Who knows, you may just start a new trend.

Rosemary was tossed on graves to show remembrance and love for the deceased.

Brides wore Rosemary on their wedding days.

And it was rumored if you tapped Rosemary against the fingers on your sweetheart, it would secure their affection. Today it might just secure the fact that you are a little loony.

Just the smell of rosemary also helps relieve nervous exhaustion. Good to know holiday shoppers!

Did I mention headaches? No matter how big or small that headache is that's rampaging inside your cranium, Rosemary helps.

And it's simple too, Rosemary aromatherapy can be as easy as rubbing it between your hands and breathing deep the rich piny air.

In the 14^th and 15^th century, Rosemary was burned to cleanse the air of the terrible Black Death. It was used as recently as WWII, when a mixture of rosemary and juniper berries were burned in French hospitals to kill germs.

I love herbs. They are just so fascinating!

Rosemary seems suited so well for this time of year. It's effective for finals, frantic holiday shopping, and the winter blues. All things that have a tendency to plague us in the dark cold winter months.

It's perfectly targeted for getting those hard to shake chills by stimulating circulation.

Rosemary helps build you back up from exhaustion, weakness, and depression with it's awesomely smelly leaves of powerful goodness.

Not to mention, by increasing circulation, you are giving every cell in your body increased oxygen, food, as well as move the white blood cells, which work so hard to kick the butt of every germ, virus and bacteria that tries to invade. AND it carries away wastes, like carbon dioxide, and other stuff your body doesn't need.

Are you as amazed as I am?

For when the Christmas shopping list is just too long...

For better memory do what the ancient Greek students did...

To break up a nasty headache...

To kill germs in the house, do what they did from the 14^th century all the way up to WWII...

To invigorate the blood...

To stimulate digestion...

To improve a child's ability to concentrate...

To strengthen the nervous system and keep emotions in check...

Use,

Are you ready for this,

Rosemary.

That's right. It's not only a great, although pungent, cooking spice. It has tons of other extraordinary hidden powers.

Believed to improve memory, Rosemary became a symbol of remembrance and concentration.

Greek students wore rosemary in their hair.

It's worth a try to all those current college kids (those modern Greeks of ours) whose procrastination has caught up with them.

Who knows, you may just start a new trend.

Rosemary was tossed on graves to show remembrance and love for the deceased.

Brides wore Rosemary on their wedding days.

And it was rumored if you tapped Rosemary against the fingers on your sweetheart, it would secure their affection. Today it might just secure the fact that you are a little loony.

Just the smell of rosemary also helps relieve nervous exhaustion. Good to know holiday shoppers!

Did I mention headaches? No matter how big or small that headache is that's rampaging inside your cranium, Rosemary helps.

And it's simple too, Rosemary aromatherapy can be as easy as rubbing it between your hands and breathing deep the rich piny air.

In the 14^th and 15^th century, Rosemary was burned to cleanse the air of the terrible Black Death. It was used as recently as WWII, when a mixture of rosemary and juniper berries were burned in French hospitals to kill germs.

I love herbs. They are just so fascinating!

Rosemary seems suited so well for this time of year. It's effective for finals, frantic holiday shopping, and the winter blues. All things that have a tendency to plague us in the dark cold winter months.

It's perfectly targeted for getting those hard to shake chills by stimulating circulation.

Rosemary helps build you back up from exhaustion, weakness, and depression with it's awesomely smelly leaves of powerful goodness.

Not to mention, by increasing circulation, you are giving every cell in your body increased oxygen, food, as well as move the white blood cells, which work so hard to kick the butt of every germ, virus and bacteria that tries to invade. AND it carries away wastes, like carbon dioxide, and other stuff your body doesn't need.

Are you as amazed as I am?

So, if this time of year has you feeling forgetful, stressed, exhausted, sick, or cold.

Do as the Greeks do.

Turn to Rosemary.

How exactly, you ask?

Well a Rosemary tea is good for most everything I mentioned. Including colds, flu, indigestion, fatigue, headache as well as sore joints. Strong teas are helpful against depression.

A pad soaked in hot water with Rosemary is good for sprains when used 2-3 minutes then alternated with an ice pack.

And a strong tea used as a hair rinse is effective against dandruff.

Try one, or all of these uses for Rosemary. I will.

Oh, and thank you to all those who signed the petition last week. We got more than we needed, how fantastic!?!

Until next time, may you take care of yourself happily. 

So, if this time of year has you feeling forgetful, stressed, exhausted, sick, or cold.

Do as the Greeks do.

Turn to Rosemary.

How exactly, you ask?

Well a Rosemary tea is good for most everything I mentioned. Including colds, flu, indigestion, fatigue, headache as well as sore joints. Strong teas are helpful against depression.

A pad soaked in hot water with Rosemary is good for sprains when used 2-3 minutes then alternated with an ice pack.

And a strong tea used as a hair rinse is effective against dandruff.

Try one, or all of these uses for Rosemary. I will.

Oh, and thank you to all those who signed the petition last week. We got more than we needed, how fantastic!?!

Until next time, may you take care of yourself happily. 

Robin Hood, the Naturopath

I have a personality quiz for you

Please respond to each question True of False

  

  I believe that in any interaction with another person it is first most important that I do no harm. T/F

   http://newspaper.li/fist/

I understand that the body has an innate ability to do certain things (like breathing for example) and I do my best to allow my body to perform its tasks with little disturbance from me (like not holding your breath forever). T/F

http://blog.nutrex.com/blogs/2011/dont-hold-your-breath/

If I can find a cause to a problem, I try and remove the cause and therefore remove the complaint. T/F

 topmy.com

I share the knowledge, wisdom, and tricks that I have learned in order to help others.  T/F

http://paultzirides.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/grandmas-secret-recipe/

 I look at a whole person, taking into account emotional state, and a myriad of other things about them to help customize the interaction.
Ex, I speak differently and have different expectations for a 2^nd grader than I would an adult. T/F

http://www.myessencenw.com/files/3dfc08242a11e3dea8e95cb0cd3d0631-72.html

   It is better to remove the cause of a problem than to deal with the mess after. T/F

http://centsablelady.com/2012/01/coupon-101-the-disorganized-persons-guide-to-coupon-organization/

End of Quiz

If you find yourself saying true to one, or more of these principals, then I have news for you…

Are you ready for it?

You embody one, or more of the core values of Naturopathic medicine.

(Wait while everyone gasps… and that one woman faints)                    

           

http://thebigbookofdating.wordpress.com/page/2/

You and 38% of the adult US population think this. (as of 2007)

You and about 3 billion of the world’s population live this.

“What is this Naturopathic medicine?” 

Naturopathic Medicine is the overarching term for medical thought process that focuses on the use of nutrition, herbs, vitamins, massage, and other non-invasive ways to promote healing. They downplay the use of synthetic drugs as well as invasive surgery as an automatic cure-all method.  

Naturopathy is siblings with other alternative and complementary medicine. One big happy family with Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Counseling, and other things that MD’s can’t write a prescription for.

Never heard of it before, so it must be new, right?

Well, actually…
 

Natuopathy as we understand it in the US started in the 1880’s in Scotland where a movement called, Hygienic Medicine was taking off. It encouraged the use of a natural diet, and exercise to lead you into good health. It also encouraged the avoidance of tobacco and overwork.

Mmmm, tobacco and work, the two vices that Americans love the most.

Natuopathy was brought to the US by a gentleman names Benedict Lust, who had learned of the healing art of hydrotherapy from a German Monsignor (a religious dude for those of you who do not speak pious).


He became the spokesperson for a broad discipline of medicine that included hydrotherapy, herbal medicine, homeopathy, as well as cautioned with the overuse of tea, coffee, and alcohol. He also saw the body as more than just a pile of cells, but also a complex mental and spiritual organism too. That should be considered in it’s wholeness.

The body being spiritual and physical! What a radical notion!

He started the first naturopathic school in New York in 1901

By 1930 there were 25 states licensing Naturopathic Physicians, or drugless practitioners. Many chiropractic schools also had a naturopathic track in conjunction with Chiropractic.

But with the advent and then overuse of penicillin, the popular sentiment was turned toward miracle pills, and quick fixes. Natuopathy experienced a decline in the 40’s and 50’s.

By 1958 only 5 states licensed Naturopaths.

Then in 1963 something strange happened in the world of medicine.

The American Medical Association started a campaign against heterodox medical systems.

Define Heterodox; not in accordance with an established or accepted religious doctrine or opinion. Unorthodox.

This is when medicine became religion.

There became a one true pill that all must follow.

There was one and only one path to health and blind devotion was required.

No questions asked.

The AMA used terms like quackery, potions, and their latest favorite term is “Non-evidence based” as ways of discounting alternative medicine that they viewed as a threat.

Their arsenal includes complaining that alternative medicine does not experiment or publish their findings, yet reading no works by published alternative researchers.


Also complaining that Naturopathic doctors do not have the same rigors or preparations that MD’s or DO’s have. Yet, refusing to look into the requirements of a 4 year ND (Naturopathic Doctor) program, their clinical requirements or anything.


At the National College of Natural Medicine their curriculum is based on an MD program with the additional courses in the alternative modalities. Med students there even had to take classes in synthetic drugs so they understood the drugs that their patients would be on and how that would interact with alternative modalities.

This was when Naturopathy became an outlaw. Ran into the woods, donned Lincoln Green, bow and arrow, referred to each other as Little John and Robin Hood.  And continued doing what it always had done.

Respecting the body’s innate ability to heal.

In 1956 the National College of Naturopathic Medicine opened its doors. Now there are 8 other schools in North America.

In 1970 naturopathic medicine underwent resurgence with a popular interest in holistic health.

Today there are 15 states and 4 provinces that license Naturopathic physicians, including two that require insurance companies to reimburse Naturopathic physicians.

Alaska                   Arizona                 California          Connecticut        D.C.              Florida                  Hawaii                   Idaho                    Kansas              Maine                Minnesota        Montana             New Hampshire    North Dakota        Oregon              Puerto Rico       U.S. Virgin Islands           Utah      Vermont                 Washington            Virginia

AND

British Columbia               Manitoba            Ontario                 Saskatchewan.

Mormons can get remedies from someone who went to school for 4 years and trained in herbs.

Hawaiians can see a ND for a sprain sustained while surfing.

Alaskans can receive hydrotherapy for a sluggish immune system, or depression.

Floridians can get compensated by their insurance companies for seeking natural ways to combat diabetes.

A Montanan cowboy can see a ND after getting trampled by a herd of wild ponies.

Dorothy in Kansas can learn about homeopathy from a licensed person whose goal is to educate.

Even the president and his family can see an ND for treatments for colds, and illnesses all the way up to cancer.

Michiganders can not.

Well, we can. There are ND’s who practice in Michigan. But they are not allowed to use the full range of their training.


Think of a surgeon with magic hands, whose thumbs and first two fingers are not licensed. So he has to do his job with only his ring finger and pinky. Doesn’t matter how great you are, it’s going to be tough to be effective.

There is an opportunity to include licensed Naturopaths to the list of primary care physicians for Obamacare.

It will be a strong encouragement for complimentary medicine. And an opportunity for naysayers to honestly see what good it can do.
 The expenses it will save, by preventing health emergencies.
And how when one person learns more about how to care for their body, they can share it with the next, and the next.
 In short order the neighborhood is living better, then the community, and it just keeps expanding.

Now I hate, absolutely hate anyone telling me what to do. I have my own mind, do not belittle it by not letting it decide for itself.

I do like when someone teaches me, and gives me the opportunity to make my own decisions.

And so, if you would like to sign this petition to add ND’s to primary care doctors, here is the link.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/include-licensed-naturopathic-physicians-primary-care-providers-federal-healthcare-law-obamacare/rW0MNqMt

It will take an extra step, because you have to create a profile with an e-mail address and password. The whole process will take less than 5 minutes.

I promise. If it takes more I will give you a puppy as compensation.

May you take care of yourself, happily. And may we, in our small way, move toward a world that takes care of itself happily.

Roots, Fall, and Crispy Basil

So, my basil is dying.

Slowly.

It looks like a slow burning fire is starting on the outer tip of each big leaf and slowly consuming toward the center.

It's not an uncommon sight. Plants of mine have died before.

Do you remember the character of Elmira from baby Looney Toons?

The one with the baby rabbits and baby characters. I kinda do, but my memory may not be spot on.

I do remember an overly enthusiastic girl who continually finds any animal, rushes to it and loudly exclaims.

“A NEW PET! 

I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER. I WILL FEED YOU AND PET YOU AND TAKE YOU FOR WALKS.”

Holding it in a bone cracking hug.

All the while the unwilling creature is terrified and seeks the first chance to escape.

I'm like that with my plants sometimes...ok all the time.

I have a habit of taking plants that have been in the ground and transferring them into pots with the dream of them growing lush and huge.

It's a wonderful fantasy.

Living in a jungle of mint, lemon balm, basil, and rosemary. Having it greet me fresh in the morning, and whimsically plucking from each what I want for tea, or anything else I wish to make.

But there are a few differences between my dream and reality.

For example. Plants, especially ones that have lived long tracts of time (like their entire life) outside are very receptive to the stuff that happens out of doors.

Like temperature valleys and peaks.

The rhythm of getting cold at night and warming up during the day. 

Also the amount of sunlight makes a big difference.

It's amazing to me in the fall to see the trees changing color, and yet the day is still 70 degrees.

I want to yell at the trees, “Hey! It's still warm out, don't change yet. Cuz when you go, then it's winter!”

I'm not a huge fan of winter. But it's not the temperature that is dictating the color change, it's the decreasing sunlight.

Same thing for my little pot-bound plants.

Maybe my basil is just reacting to having less and less sun.

Maybe it's reacting to being next to a window pane, where the cold air seeps through the glass, sending chills down it's spine.

Or reacting to the cranky dragon-like radiator that sits right beneath it, exhaling bellows of desert hot heat.

Maybe that's killing it.

Or maybe it's something I haven't considered.

I've had a love affair with plants for a while now, but it's only fairly recently that I realize how vastly important a plants root structure is. Its the part you never see. So, naturally I don't think is very important.

When digging up plants, I used to take a shovel full of roughly equal to what would fit into my pot.

Disregarding the inches, feet, or miles of roots I may have left behind. I though that they can always be regrown once the plant realizes what a great little space it now has.

It's just logic, right?

Yes, I foolishly think that plants will reason and come around to my point of view. Instead of begrudging me about taking them from their homes, friends, family, and most important, their favorite TV shows.

This past summer I relocated a Sweet Woodruff plant.

Historically, Sweet Woodruff was dried and put in straw tick mattresses to keep the bugs away (think Citronella for a bed). Now-a-days it's used as a pretty ground cover under trees and other very shady areas.

The move was out from a sun bather's paradise to a shady spot.

I found him hiding among the Lungwort.

Although this little guy only stood above the ground about three to four inches, his root system connected him to another refugee brethren that I hadn't noticed before, as well as 5 other long roots spreading out in other directions.

I followed what I could, pulling up a chunk of the Lungwort while I was at it. 

Which sparked the philosophical debate if it was OK to kill a bunch of many in order to save a few of a few.

I relocated the 4 inch Sweet Woodruff, and it's long interconnected root system. Upon last checking, he's making modest growth in his new home!

Moving small plant with great consideration for it's root needs...success!

You would think I have learned, right? Even small plants have big roots.

And not so tiny plants can have phenomenal root systems!

Alfalfa roots can go amazingly deep into the soil. While some trees are sticking to the surface for collecting rainwater, Alfalfa is trekking deep into the depths of the unknown seeking the water table as well as minerals that other plants could only dream about.

For those who may not know, Alfalfa has 8 essential amino acids and the highest chlorophyll content of any plant, along with being rich in vitamins and minerals. It is a popular blood purifier and cure for inflammations, including rheumatism.*

So move aside gerbils, here I come! 

If only I can figure out how to make it taste better...

So I learned my lesson, right? Wrong, when this fall hit, and I dreamed of having some cheery lemon balm to knit away the winter hours with me.

I grabbed a shovel and roughly dug up about the same amount as what would fit into my pot.

Totally disregarding all roots I may have cut off. 

Roots that are responsible for the vast majority of the water, and mineral absorption of the plant.

So what I did was kinda like taping someone's mouth shut, and sticking their feet in a bucket of water. Explaining that what they need will be absorbed through the skin, that their mouth isn't really necessary for stuff like eating, drinking, and so on.

Needless to say, my Lemon Balm is looking a bit green around the gills as well.

Not only is it adjusting to the shock of having it's roots hacked off, and being in a temperature controlled, hyper dry environment.

It also is facing the rather annoying challenge of staying alive when it's rhythm says that it's time to sleep.

"Drop your leaves, go into your roots (you know the same one's I chopped off) and chill for a couple of months, you've been working hard all summer." says Mother Nature.

 

The last thing is nutrition.

In my naive potted plant owner state, I mistakenly believed that if you kept the soil fairly wet, it was enough for a plant to live and grow and thrive. I've gotten plants from the store with roots curling upon roots, or giant trees in small pots, and figured all they ever got was a watering when they needed it.

It wasn't until I read in a book, at a thrift store that said plants can survive in pots because you provide all their nutrition... WHAT?

I missed that part in plant parenting 101!

So this year I bought my first box box of Miracle Grow, and like putting make-up on for the first time. I awkwardly applied it to the plants as I gave them their regular drink.

Worrying all the time that I'm doing too much, or not enough, lopsided, or sneeze while I have the mascara in my hand, looking like I have a black eye.

I still don't know how much to give them. Considering my box recommends using it by the gallon, and I'm watering by the random cups of water.

Also in an effort to counteract the uncontrollable weather, the waning sun, and all the other things that I can't control. I water constantly in the winter time.

Constantly

Actually I water pretty obsessively all the time, but in the summer they need it.

In the winter, they don't. 

So in my effort to be helpful, I turn my plants into deep sea divers.

And still I wonder why my basil is dying.

If you have any tips for keeping plants alive over the winter. Please let me know.

May you take care of yourself happily

* I don't know everything, info taken from www.bulkherbstore.com catalog

Well ain't that Wild?

 

Today we are taking a brief pause from talking about medical herbs and how amazing they are to look at wildflowers. Specifically the wildflowers that are rare and protected, like Trillium and Lady Slippers.

Trillium are in the Lily family and they grow from 8 inches to a foot and a half tall. It has one white flower on a thin stalk, with three large green leaves beneath the flower. Trillium gets it’s name because of the threes. Three petals in the flower, three leaves, and so on. It blooms in the spring.

The large flowered trillium are most commonly seen in the early spring woodlands. They are pretty noticeable what with being a big splash of white in a brownish, just turning green world.

But did you know there is a different kind than the three petals shining up and high?

There’s also one called the Nodding Trillium where the flower sags it’s head beneath the three leaves and actually faces the ground. This one is harder to identify because the flower is not as noticeable. Some people even confuse it for Jack-in-the-pulpit. This really isn’t a confusion for me, because I’m not familiar enough with Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

                                                                                        Jack in the Pulpit

Nodding Trillium

                              

There’s even a kind that’s a dull red. The flower is above the three leaves and looks a bit like it’s white brother.

Except for the smell...

This flower smells like rotting meat.

EWWWW!

Yup.

This sucker ain’t interested in attracting sweet little honeybees and butterflies. It wants flies, and lots of ‘em for pollination.

I haven’t seen, er, I mean, um, smelled this plant yet. So I can’t say from firsthand experience what it is like.

There are 6 other species of trillium found in Michigan!

Now what makes Trillium protected. The plant only has enough leaves, and makes enough food for it to survive one year. Just one. And barely one at that. If a leaf gets removed, or ripped, then the plant can’t make enough food and it’s a hungry demise for the plant. 

You don’t want to be responsible for someone’s starvation, do you?

Another note of fact, trillium flowers turn pink with age. I thought I found a new kind of trillium when I came upon some pink ones. I felt like Christopher Columbus discovering a whole new world…until a friend said that everyone knows they turn pink with age. Well, everyone but me.

Lady slippers are not part of the Lily family, they are a type of Orchid!

 They have only two long leaves near the ground, then a long thin stalk rising 6 inches to a foot and a half tall. They flowers can come in; pretty pink, yellow, or even pink and white called a Showy Lady’s Slipper.

Showy Lady's Slipper

The flower is set up as a drive through for the bugs. The bug enters the bottom of the flower, but can’t back out the same way it came in. So it has to walk straight through, picking up the orchid’s pollen why it’s at it. Kinda the opposite of a car wash, I guess. They don't get clean, they get pollen-ized.

Now Orchid seeds do not have a food supply. Most seeds do. We eat the food supply of the seeds when we eat anything that originated as a seed. Like corn, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, and so on. That thick meaty part gives the baby seed the food it needs right there. Orchids don’t have that snack packed with them.

So instead it needs a little help, and gets it from a fun guy. Get it, Fungi? Scientists haven’t identified what kind of fungi it is that is needed to make this dynamic duo. But what the fungi does is sends it’s tendrils into to the seed cracking it open, then feeding the baby flower with the nutrients that it gathers.

Think of a beautiful princess locked in a seed-like tower. Pining away for her true love, until one day a brave and handsome comedian (get it, Fungi?! This doesn't get old.) comes boldly riding up, breaks down the walls and then lovingly feeds her chicken noodle soup.

Ahh, don’t you just lone happy endings?

So without this mysterious hero, we can have a million orchid seeds and never see a single one flower. The plant then grows very slowly. As it gets older it returns the favor to the fungi, giving it access to food it could not get otherwise.

Lady Slippers can live to be 20 years old.

Which means they can vote, they can go to college, but they can’t drink. 

If you see a drunk Lady Slipper, you know they are in trouble, because they are underage!

So enjoy the wild flowers that you have in your life. And appreciate the mystery of how they grow, how they survive, as well as how beautiful they are. It never ceases to amaze me.

May you take care of yourself happily. 

                                                

                                                    Yellow Lady Slippers